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The Great Dictator VHS (11-05-92) (USA) (Charlie Chaplin Centennial Collection)
About this film
Printed during the 38th week of 1999. From the original Magnetic Video VHS: "THE GREAT DICTATOR marked a departure for Chaplin in a number of ways. Most notably, it is his first dialog film and, rather than try to add a voice to the by now universally recognized figure of the little tramp, Chaplin wisely chose to modify him into what is essentially a new character. More correctly, there are two Chaplin characters here: the modest unassuming proprietor of a small barber shop in the Jewish ghetto of Tomania, and that country's maniacal dictator, Adenoid Hynkel. The barber spends two decades in a mental hospital suffering from amnesia induced by a World War II battle inury. He then returns to his Jewish neighborhood oblivious to the changes that have occurred in his country since the dictator Hynkel has come to power. The battle he and his neighbors wage to outwit the marauding storm troopers provides the basis for one half of the film. Paralleling this, is the depiction of Hynkel and his advisors as they plot to double cross rival dictator Benzino Napolini of Bacteria (a priceless burlesquing of Il Duce by Jack Oakie). Through a complicated set of circumstances, Hynkel and the barber…
Directors & creators
The CBS/Fox Company, Charlie Chaplin Film Corporation
Subjects
VHS, 1992, The Great Dictator, CBS/Fox Video, FoxVideo, Charlie Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin Centennial Collection
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